Reflections, Observations, and Analyses Pertaining to the Canadian Political Scene

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Why Has Accepting Scientific Fact Become A Matter Of Choice?

Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean. They speak different languages and use different powers of the brain.

-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership

As the quotation above suggests, the schism between scientific fact and religious belief is, in fact, one that shouldn't exist. Yet, given the kinds of absolutist thinking that permeate the world today, demagogues and zealots suggest the two are mutually exclusive, an invalid proposition if one's belief in transcendent truth manages to rise above seeing the narratives of the world's religions as literal truths.

It is always unseemly when people parade and exult in their intellectual limitations, often presenting them as virtues. For example, in Ontario, people like Progressive Conservative MPP Rick Nicholls has suggested that evolution should not be taught in schools, as he doesn't believe in it.

Sadly, such benighted positions, masquerading as informed opinion, do a disservice both to science and religion, not to mention public discourse in general. And it seems to be spreading, despite the fact that we live in an age unprecedented in its access to knowledge.
Consider the almost religious fervour with which people disavow climate change, despite these facts:

The debate over climate change is over. The U.N.‘s Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report, written by 800 scientists from 80 countries, that summarized the findings of more than 30,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers and concluded:
“Human influence on the climate system is clear; the more we disrupt our climate, the more we risk severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts; and we have the means to limit climate change and build a more prosperous, sustainable future.”

Like the facts that make evolution irrefutable, the facts of climate change are treated by some as optional, a matter of belief, based on all kinds of specious reasoning, including religious ones such as asserting that God is in control of the planet.
Perhaps people take living in a supposedly democratic age as license to suggest that any view is valid. Perhaps the right wing, emboldened by their ability to stir up emotion and hysteria, and enjoying so much influence in North America, feel that they have the politicians cowed. Perhaps the truly rational see little profit in getting down to their level to dispute with them. Perhaps it is because the uninformed and unsophisticated comprise such a large part of our population and show no interest in learning how to think critically, dismissing those who do as elitist leftists and alarmists.

I really have no answers here, but to countenance ignorance in any form, in my view, is to abdicate our responsibilities as both human beings and as citizens, and these are obligations we cannot afford to shirk.

.. the term 'radicalization' is getting a lot of exposure recently.. relatively young Canadians embracing radical religious or ideological beliefs.. and its generally accepted they have chosen a dangerous path, seemingly quite unreasonable & dangerous to society.. a book called the Koran seems to be a trusted reference

I'm sure you see where this is going..

So what to make of other Canadians.. who choose to follow other paths, in particular a belief in invisible friends upstairs, and also embrace an ancient arcane book translated, adapted and rewritten over millenia

I guess my simple point is this.. there is no accounting for people's strange behavior. But for those who want to be with ISIS and are itching to kill innocents for the prophet.. well get your ass over there - amen

For those over here, more discreet, that find politics is their calling and their 'religion' tells them they are superior beings, entitled and playing on the right team & can ignore any rules.. I pretty well wish they would leave as well.

My final little point? I don't feel angry at those who are described as radicalized. I actually feel sorry for them - sad their lived will likely be wasted. But the holier than thou ignorant hypocrites a la MPP Nicholls, Jason Kenney, Harper, Nigel, Arthur Hamilton MacKay, Peter Kent et al I don't feel sorry for.. If they were disgraced & their actions and intentions revealed I would feel justice had prevailed.. & the world a better place

Both examples are not new. Mercenaries and those who seek war or glory in battle have been around forever. And the carpet baggers, scoundrels, politicians, traitors, spies, opportunists have been among us just as long. we just have to look and we can spot them by their actions.

There are special terms reserved for those in positions of trust, of power, who's ignorance or religious agenda are carefully hidden or masked. Their actions are calculated, self serving, conniving & deceitful.. and over time, far more dangerous than a simple misguided fool.

Its really time we insisted that people in extremely powerful positions.. and their underlings.. declare their driving ideology, religion or ignorance. They are welcome to their beliefs or delusions of course, but please don't expect you can let them dictate your actions once elected as public servants.. either overtly or covertly.

Our current PM may be substituting his religious belief for Canada's foreign policy. Especially in regard to diplomacy and Israel. Should belief in the 'rapture' shape Canada's actions in any way? Do a majority of Canadians see belief in the 'rapture' as ignorance.. or as a Canadian 'value' ? Pray tell Mr Harper

I agree with you entirely here, Salamander. I have always been of the view that people can believe whatever they want to believe, as long as they don't try to inflict those views and their inherent distorted values onto others. Unfortunately, the government that currently bedevils us sees no need for a separation of church and state. Kind of like a theocracy à la Iran, wound't you say?

Always blows me away when anyone feels that the terms; fact, view, & belief are fully interchangeable. Most religions have always relied on faith and limited challenge of teachings. This 'unprecedented access to knowledge' is seen as a great threat, and has created the infantile pushback we see today.

Individual free thought and awareness work to erode the religion's base. They feel they are literally fighting for their lives. The last thing I expect is an adoption of rational logic in their argument for survival. The real shame is that this is a prime example as to why we should always have a full separation between church and state. Sadly that is not the case today.

It seems as though we've entered an era, Lorne, where the enormity of our reality, our circumstances, is simply overwhelming to many. We read that we're on the brink of a major extinction event. How does the average person integrate that into their lives? There's a feeling of powerlessness, the sort of thing that leaves many susceptible to those all to willing to tell them what they want to hear. If facts become unbearable, switch to beliefs. The reporter failed to ask this fellow the important question of whether our schools exist to teach beliefs or facts. Is knowledge no more than what we wish it to be?

I wonder how much our appetite for belief, even fantasy, undermines our resilience that we'll need, individually and collectively, to meet the enormous challenges of the coming decades. The more I delve into it the more feeble we appear.

You may be right, Mound. Magical thinking can be comforting, but, as a Russian once said about One Day in the LIfe of Ivan Denisovich, a novel unsparing in its examination of the gulag system under 'Uncle Joe' Stalin, "Better a bitter truth than a sweet lie."

As long as our 'leaders' continue to embrace and promote the 'sweet lie,' the more willing the masses will be to hide from reality.

The rise and intergration of fundamental christianity into CON politics is one of the most serious threats to Canadian democracy and culture.. Rick Nicholls a CON MPP saying he does not believe in evolution is the latest admission of a politician who advocates his accepted dogma over science. The fact that in the 21st century a public figure whose working on the tax payers dime would make such a claim and be barely challenged by the public indicates to me the overall intellectual decline. Harper and his evangelical political buddies try to keep there beliefs under wraps.The fact that they do that is in itself telling. Canadians are skeptical of faith based governments and Harper knows it,so Canadians must be deceived. Do we really want our values, rights and ethics defined by a group of Christian fundamentalists. That is who our government is and their fundamentalists beliefs are not seperate from who they are, or what they do now, or will do in the future.Welcome to the dark ages.

Exactly, Pamela, exactly. Your comments also underscore the failure of the media to hold to account such people. If you watched the video with Nicholls, for example, it is clear that all they are trying to achieve is a 'gotcha' moment. No serious challenges or questions about his fabulist leanings were issued.